Mum? Harry? What is going here?
by manalls
Summary: Hermione turned Harry down after the final battle when he admits his feelings to her. A few years down the line, a failed relationship with Ron Weasel and with only a hadnful of friends, she sets off to find her parents, but what she finds astounds her.
1. Chapter 1

This story's main relationship will involve Harry and Hermione's mum; following a thread on yahoo group 3or4part harmony, it could include Hermione as well. I would like people's opinions so please review for me and let me know if you like this story and if you think Hermione should be involved as well. The idea is that Hermione didn't send her parents to Australia and didn't call them Wilkins, with no memory of a daughter, they drifted apart and divorced. Hermione finds her dad first, then sets off to find her mum. She finds her alright, but firmly in the arms of none other than Harry. Harry that she had turned down years before. She wants nothing more than to get her parents back together as well as get together with Harry.

Some of the story at the beginning will be told in flashback until we get to Hermione meeting Harry and her mum. There will be some angst and I will try to make it believeable.

The characters will be somewhat OOC at the beginning but only because I believe this is how they would turned out if the books had continued in the HBP and DH style.

* * *

I couldn't believe it, Harry had killed Voldemort and we were all free to live our lives happily. Harry would be able to go back to Ginny and I would be free to see what happens with Ron. We just agreed this morning to give this thing that had been brewing between us for a while a go. I knew Harry would be talking to Dumbledore in his portrait in the headmaster's office. The gargoyle was out of the way so she walked up the stairs to see her best friend. She could hear Harry talking; well shouting was more like it actually.

"You take the bucket Dumbledore; you actually went out of your way to make sure I would be together with someone who was a pureblood so that the Boy-Who-Lived would make it look like he was happy to continue with the status quo! I've had a crush on her since first year and that only grew throughout the years, but nooo, you had to meddle and alienate her as much as possible from me. So to answer your question Snape, yes I know what it is like to be in love with someone who doesn't love you back. God, I know how it feels, but it's even worse when you find out that she fancies your best mate."

What… what was Harry talking about? He was in love with someone that fancied Ron? That would mean… oh no. I let out a small gasp as I realised what it meant. Obviously, the gasp was louder than intended as Harry called out for me.

"Come on in Hermione. I might as well make my humiliation complete."

I stepped inside and saw Harry properly for the first time since his final battle. He looked tired and he looked very stressed indeed. Actually, he looked harried. I moved to hug him, but he held up his hand to forestall me. He was nervous, I could tell, I mean I knew him best out of everyone who knew him. I started to speak, but again he stopped me.

"Look Hermione, I know you heard some of what I said earlier so I'm putting together my Gryffindor courage and I'm going to charge ahead: I love you Hermione, I love you so much it hurts. I think we could be good together, we know each other so well, we know what likes and dislikes we have. We rarely argue and when we do, it's for something important and not petty reasons. I know you fancy Ron, you've made that perfectly clear over the last few years, but I want to know if there could be some chance of us having a go at being together."

My mind was reeling; here was Harry, my best friend for the last seven years, telling me he loved me. I mean like everyone else, I had had a crush on him, but that soon changed when I saw the attention I got from Ron. Ron was funny, he could make me laugh. I mean I knew we argued but people said it was a sign of URST. He was very loyal as well, he reminded me of a faithful dog – they could do the wrong thing, but in the end, they always came back. I voiced this to Harry and his reaction surprised me.

"You're kidding right Hermione, you must be! My god, you're not, you really believe that crap you speak. Let me make a few things clear for you. Ron is not loyal: the two instances that spring to mind are the tournament in fourth year and just in the last year when he left us during the hunt. The reason you and Ron argued is because he is a petty jealous creep, you have no idea how often I wanted to dump his friendship down the drain but was afraid you'd rather spend time with him than me so I kept on being his friend. He was always angry that you or I did better than him, why do you think I do well in defence but not in any other subjects. I was afraid to lose your friendship if I got Ron angry at me for being better, but then I also thought you might not appreciate it if I got close to you in class. You always strived to do the best you can and be the best. Also, if I did well in classes, say as well as you did, who do you think they would notice? Me or you? Now, do you feel you can risk his friendship to try a relationship with me?"

I hesitated and that answered the question for him. I saw his green eyes darken and the light go out, his shoulders sagged and his head dropped.

"Harry…"

"Hermione, don't talk to me, in fact leave me alone right now. I have a few things I need to think about. Please…"

Normally, I wouldn't have left but his plea at the end made me change my mind and for the first time in seven years, I didn't know how to behave around him so I left. As I walked sown the stairs, I heard a choked sob. At that point I knew that I had done something I would come to regret but I wouldn't admit it, my pride wouldn't allow it. Over the next few weeks, I explored my relationship with Ron both emotionally and physically. Both were lacking, he was a poor lover in both senses, but I knew it would get better. I asked him one day if he wanted to come and get my parents with me but he made a convincing argument about him needing to find a job and me needing to get back up to date for school as I was going back. One day, just before I was due to go back to Hogwarts, I asked Ginny about Harry and if he was going back to Hogwarts and how their relationship was going. Her answer left me cold; it was simple and straight to the point.

"He's gone. He helped Kingsley put the ministry back on its feet, but when it was done, he just left Mum and Dad a letter saying that he was gone. He asked them not to contact him, because it wouldn't work. He can't be traced magically – some spell he invented last month. I thought you knew – sorry."

My world collapsed then, Harry, the only constant I had for the last seven years had gone. I hadn't even spoken to him since that day in the office. I couldn't believe it, what was I going to do. Over the next few years, I tried to mould Ron into a Harry, but it was pointless. Ron was everything Harry said he was; he was everything my subconscious knew he would be as well as what my mum said to me before fifth year. I just didn't want to admit it. He never worked for anything, everything had been handed to him and that explains why he works with Fred and George as a shop worker. He tried out for quidditch but his nerves got the better of him and the fact that he was useless didn't help. He wanted to work for the Aurors, but he never took his NEWT's and is OWL's were poor. He claimed to be Harry's chief strategist, but he got laughed out of the ministry. Even his dad couldn't find him anything so in the end, he had to work for Fred and George. He was boorish as well; I tried to get him involved in things I did, but every time we went out, he embarrassed me by drinking too much and eating too much and people started to stop inviting me to work functions. I slowly started to move away from work colleagues and friends, because I was trying too hard with Ron. I tried to make him into the person that I wanted; I realised at some point that Harry was all I needed. He had been the most important person in my life, my focal point for so long that I couldn't function without him, but I tried to make Ron into Harry and it failed on so many levels. The worst was loyalty. I found Ron in bed with Lavender Brown and that's when I knew that I had made a mistake. So here I am at Heathrow Airport waiting for a flight to go to New Zealand to find my parents and restore their memories and hope to god that they could still love me, because if they didn't then I would really have nothing left.


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks for the reviews, I hope this chapter pleases everyone. Once again, any feedback is appreciated.

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Harry Potter could finally say that he was a happy man. If you had asked him the same question some four years ago, he would have admitted that he was borderline depressive and unsure what to do with his life. Following Hermione's rejection of his affections, he turned to the Goblins for help. At first, they had been reticent, but when he explained about Griphook's betrayal and the need to destroy the horcrux to ensure their survival, he was welcomed by most, but more importantly by the King Goblin, Ragnok, himself. With their help, he set up means to access his money in the muggle world as well as entrusting his finances to the Goblins so that they could oversee the growth of his finances. He explained that he would make it public that he trusted the Goblins to look after his money so that others could follow.

Absolute trust was a two-way street that could only be built slowly, he explained. He also enquired as to what health services they could provide him and the Goblins were most insistent on showing off as much as they could. They gave body-e potions so that years of neglect, abuse and having a horcrux in your head could be wiped clean; they also showed him a Goblin secret: the potion to understand and communicate in any earth language. They explained this potion was the secret of their success, it meant that any Goblin could be dispatched as soon as possible on a treasure hunt as they would know how to speak the language of the country in which the treasure was as well as most ancient languages providing there had been a previous interaction. Harry felt this was a godsend, he could now freely travel around the world and not be restricted to purely English-speaking countries. These potions would take up to a month to function properly so Harry busied himself with helping Kingsley restore the Ministry as well as trying to bridge the gaps formed over the last year between all magical beings. He knew Kingsley would be sympathetic to this as he, himself, came from a different magical culture than the British way of life.

Harry estimated that to show his intentions to welcome everyone, he should hire some consultants from the US as the magical community over there was very open and accepting of everyone. Harry explained that this should be done straight away as the pureblood supremacists that hadn't been marked or arrested would want to lay low for a while in order not to attract undue attention. On August 3rd, Harry wrote a letter to Mr and Mrs Weasley stating his intention to leave the country and that he couldn't be contacted, he also visited Andromeda before going and explained to her that the Goblins would know how to contact him and that he would send updates to her and Teddy. Finally, he allowed Kreacher to pass away knowing that he had served his Master Regulus well and he hired Winky as the official Potter-Black house-elf; her primary function would be to look after Teddy and his gran, whilst helping Andromeda renovate the various properties in his portfolio to a high standard. He explained that he would help with Godric's Hollow when the time came to that so that was the only place to be left untouched apart from tending to the cemetery.

With his work done and instructions left behind, Harry made his way to Heathrow Airport and boarded a plane for India. He made his way over the next 13 months to Australia backpacking and meeting people from all walks of life. Sometimes he came across magic users and learnt something new from them. He was thoroughly enjoying himself, but he wasn't happy yet. True he met and slept with various girls; girls found it hard to resist him and he found it hard to resist them. The potions had done the trick for his height and weight, he was now about 6'2" and his constant exercise from quidditch and then backpacking allowed him to develop his muscles. He wasn't a body builder, but he resembled more of a rugby backrow player: powerful and quick. He knew Australia was where Hermione's parent were but he was confident she would have removed them by now and they would be back in Blighty.

Over the next 6 months, he travelled around Australia, taking in the sights and sounds of everywhere, before he decided to settle in Melbourne for a little while. He found a job working as a sous chef in the kitchen of a beach side restaurant. The job came up as a fluke really, he decided to share a house with others and helped cook. He knew he was good at it as the Dursleys never complained and his housemates insisted he cook more often. One evening, some friends came over and loved the food he made. Harry loved to cook seafood and fish and his dishes wowed everyone that night - one of the guests was the owner of that restaurant and following a quick interview with the chef the next day, Harry started a week later. He also decided to keep up with physical exercise and joined the local aussie rules team that played at weekends. The game reminded him of quidditch without brooms and he loved the chase and physical aspects of it. It was through the game that he met Jane; he got himself injured and cracked a tooth.

He took himself to the nearest dentist and Jane was on duty that day. They clicked straight away, even though she was older than him. At first, he thought she was 30, maybe 35 at a push, but was astounded to find out she was 20 years his senior. That didn't stop their friendhip from blossoming into something more. Harry found the qualities that had made him fall in love with Hermione, she was smart, funny and knew how to relax without needing to drink. That may sound strange, but Harry liked to relax by doing nothing at all, not even speaking, just remaining in close contact with someone and a peaceful silence.

Harry found out a lot about Jane. She was divorced, her ex-husband was living in New Zealand, they had both moved there some years ago from England, but the new life had made them drift apart. She wanted a child, but he didn't and eventually, they agreed that any love between them had evaporated. It was an amicable divorce, they just split everything down the line, she moved to Melbourne and he stayed there in Hawke Bay. After 9 months of going out together, Harry suggested that maybe they should travel together and have fun. He loved Melbourne but there was still so much of the world he wanted to see; Jane was understandably reticent regarding finances, but was quickly reassured when Harry showed her his statements: his investments made him in the region of £350,000 a year and the interest accrued on his accounts was more than that as well. After a tearful goodbye to friends and colleagues in Melbourne that lasted three days, the couple set off for America. They arrived in New York and promptly bought a car in the hope of visiting every state over the next year.

This is where we find them together lying next to each other on the shores of Lake Tahoe. Harry turned over to look at Jane and his heart filled with love. He had convinced himself so long ago that he wasn't worth loving and that he would never love anyone else than Hermione. He was wrong though, he was so wrong. Earlier in the day. Harry had explained about him being a wizard and Jane had accepted without even batting an eyelid. She knew about it already, someone in Melbourne had told her about having the mark of magic in her, which meant that she was squib. She had been glad to learn about a new world, but she hadn't felt the need to integrate it. She was happy where she was. Harry put his hand in his packet and fingered the velvet box that was within. He was nervous, he knew that but he also knew that he was certain this was the right thing to do. He had bought he ring in the magical section of Tiffany's in New York without Jane's knowledge. Slowly, he brought it out and placed it on Jane's chest, this woke her from her slumber, she glanced at him and smiled, then she felt a weight on her chest and looked down. What she saw woke her up properly: it was a very simple engagement ring with a diamond in the classic Tiffany setting. Harry's voice broke through her musings and she looked at him.

"Jane, ever since I met you, I feel as though a void has been filling slowly, I never thought I would be worthy of love, but you have shown me how wrong I can be and was. Will you help me fill that void in my heart completely by becoming my wife and starting the family we both desire and crave?"

Jane was speechless, all she could do was nod. She watched as Harry picked the ring out of the box and slowly slipped it onto her wedding finger. She knew she was crying and she was also faintly aware of the others around her clapping and shouting encouragements, however, all she could see was the man that had given her a second chance at life. She leant forward and kissed him for all she was worth, she wanted to let him know how much she loved him and how thankful she was he had made his way into her life. Slowly, they pulled apart and just rested their foreheads together and whispered sweet nothings to each other. They were pulled from their own little world by a gasp and looked to see a girl of Harry's age looking at them with tear-filled eyes as she choked out:

"Harry? Mmm... mmm... mum?"

And with that said, Hermione Granger dropped in dead faint.

* * *

Hermione Granger arrived in Hawke Bay with a purpose - she was going to restore her parents' memories, bring them back into her life and hopefully England and then she was going to find harry potter - not The Boy Who Lived, but the Boy She Let Go. She was still kicking herself for letting him go, she was so stupid. her mother had always told her that life's answers could not be found in a book, but she thought that being a witch meant that her parents could not understand her life; she was different and they weren't. Her arrogance cost a her a lot; she often hid insecurities behind a mask of knowledge, she hid behind figures of authority and their advice when unsure what to do and she had paid dearly. She recalled the conversation that opened her eyes and allowed her to face her fears.

_Flashback_

_I arrived at Minerva's office looking forward to talking to Albus Dumbledore; since that day here nearly three years ago, the end of Harry's conversation with the portrait had been nagging at me but I had tried to put it out of mind until I could no longer restrain my curiosity. Minerva welcomed me with open arms and respected my wishes to speak to the portrait alone. He could be heard snoozing but I knew better._

_"WAKE UP DUMBLEDORE!" I saw him pretend to be shocked awake by scream and couldn't resist the nerve of that man, I realised this was a conversation that he was trying to avoid and that tightened the icy knot in my stomach. "Good, now I am going to cast a spell on you that will force you to tell the truth so you will answer all my questions clearly and concisely. Pictus veritas." I watched as the purple light impacted the portrait and for the tell-tale glow it had worked. Not bothering to beat about the bush, I cut straight to the point._

_"Did you manipulate me to ignore Harry in any way at all, be it through potions, spells or seclusion?" Grimly, I watched him struggle against telling the truth and that worried me. Finally, he spoke._

_"I started alienating him from you in fourth year, he wanted to ask you to the ball, but a confounding spell stopped that, then the summer after that year, I made sure I had you and Ron spend time together and I gave Ron the prefect's position overriding Minerva's opinion that Harry was better. This was done to make you get closer to Ron and make Harry more dependant on me and my advice. I made sure Horace gave Harry that book you disliked so much and enchanted it with a spell to make the owner reticent to share it with anyone. Molly suggested the idea of a love potion for Harry and Ginny to get together and started to give it to him the summer after fifth year. You were given a mild attraction potion to Ron Weasley since fifth year, so that the idea could grow in your mind of being with Ron. that is all I did, but it was enough."_

_I felt physically sick, I started to dry heave, but wouldn't give him the satisfaction of that. "Who else knew of these plans and had been involved?"_

_"Molly knew of it as did Ginny. Ron was aware that I wanted you and him together and agreed to it so that he could have something Harry didn't. I made sure he apologised every time he did something that separate the two of you. I understand that he gave you something during the hunt but I am not aware of what it was."_

_"Why did you do this?"_

_"I needed for the Potter line to not be diluted any longer, they are the oldest wizarding family in Europe but they had the nasty habit of marrying outside of pureblood circles. The more people they introduced to the wizarding world, the greater the danger it would be exposed to the muggle world out there. I also wanted them to suffer for rejecting a marriage proposal with my sister. If the Potters had taken care of her, I would have been free to make sure that I could become even greater than I was."_

_End of Flashback_

She felt sick whenever it came back to her mind. Minerva had been most displeased and had put the portrait in the same toilet as Myrtle and had charmed the portrait so that he could not escape from it. She made her way to the hotel she had booked to drop her belongings off. At the hotel, she looked up her parents, but could onl find her dad's name in the practice, she shrugged to herself, they probably had another child. She knew they loved other, it was obvious, they had been together since they were 18, just like her and Ron should have been. Even though, they weren't physically affectionate, they were always together for her and whenever she needed help. After asking the reception to call her a cab, she waited in the reception until it came. On the way to the practice in the taxi, she felt her palms get sweaty as she started to worry about her parents' reactions.

She paid the taxi and walked into the surgery, she gave her name and waited for her appointment to come. When her name was called, she walked into the room her dad was waiting for her, even if he didn't know it. She knew he never worked with any assistants as he liked to do everything by himself; when he came into the room, her heart leapt. He looked the same but almost more carefree and younger, obviously Hawke Bay agreed with him. Before he could do or say anything, her wand flashed with a bright white light and she rushed to her dad to sit him down in a chair. She saw that memories were starting to come together and suddenly, she found herself engulfed by her dad and she finally allowed those tears to fall. They whispered things to each other, after all they hadn't seen each other in about four years.

"Hi Dad."

"Hello Poppet! Look at you, you're a woman now, where did my little girl go?"

"I'm still here Dad, maybe you could tell me where to find Mum and I'll restore her memories as well." As she said this, she noticed her dad's eyes dim somewhat.

"Poppet, things have changed since you removed those memories from us. Your mum and I divorced about three years ago. We didn't you around anymore, we suddenly had nothing in common anymore, the one thing that kept us together was gone so the natural process of drifting apart happened. All I know is that she left New Zealand for Oz. I'm sorry."

Hermione couldn't believe it, were things just going to get worse and worse. Well that was out of the question, she was going to restore her memories and get her parents back together.

"That's fine Dad, once she has her memories back, you two can get back together and continue being my parents..." Her dad was shaking his head.

"No poppet, your mum and I... we wouldn't be able to get back together, you see... I remarried two months ago. A local school teacher and I'm happy here, I truly love her, she is the other half of my heart. Your mum and I never achieved that together, we loved each other, but int he end we were more like best friends than anything else. We divorced amicably so there were no hard feelings, she sent me a card from Melbourne and she is enjoying life there with her new boyfriend. Please poppet, if you restore her memories do it because you want your mum back not for me, ok?"

Hermione nodded, she knew that her dad seemed happy, he looked younger and healthier. She agreed to stay with him and his new wife for a couple of weeks before going to Australia. The next four weeks went by, she had a lot of explaining to do to her dad's new wife. She just said that her parents thought she was dead so had never mentioned her to anyone. Lynn, his new wife, understood having lost a boy in childbirth. Lynn was lovely and Hermione couldn't help but see that her dad and Lynn were in love totally, utterly and nothing would break it. Eventually, she had to leave; she promised to keep in touch. her dad gave her a mobile that could work anywhere in the world so they call each other any time.

She arrived in Melbourne and found out that her mum, now Jane Farmer, had left some months ago for New York with her boyfriend, they were going to tour America, so she set off on their footsteps. She seemed to just miss them by days every time she found a trail for them until she got to Lake Tahoe. She followed instructions to where they should be, it had become a favourite spot of theirs. As she arrived, she heard cheering. Someone had proposed and the other person had said yes it seemed. Suddenly, she recognised her mum, but worse, she recognised the unruly mop of hair belonging to her boyfriend. She said something and then darkness claimed her as she fainted away.


	3. Chapter 3

This story will not involve Harry/Hermione's Mum/Hermione, it will remain H/HrSenior. There will be a twist to the pairing, some may flame me about it, but I wanted to do it this way. For those who want to read H/Hr/Hr's mum, then go the Yahoo Group 3or4 Part Harmony as it has two stories in this category, including the most recent addition by Seelvor. These stories are, in my opinion, better written than mine, but also they make the plot believable. I would add a link, but I have no idea how to do that, sorry!

I want to thank everyone for the reviews, advice and constructive criticism received, I am trying to take it all on board and deal with all the queries:

1. Harry will be needing his language skills later.

2. Hermione and Harry will take time to get back to being best friends, they still consider each other that way, but it will take time to regain that closeness.

3. I hope my paragraphs are shorter as well.

4. Re. Harry's growth and cooking skills: The potion cured all damage to his body and the two years in India under the time turner will have helped. When I said backrow, I was thinking along the lines of Serge Betsen - not Hulk-like but powerful and fast. His cooking skills will have been honed by years of practice with the Dursleys and as I love cooking, I just had to include it. Also, I find seafood and fish so easy to cook!

Finally, my apologies this chapter is short, but I am away for a while and may or may not get time to update until next week, so I wanted a small chapter to whet the appetites for what will come next.

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(Hermione's POV)

I woke up to voices speaking very softly as though not to wake me. I opened my eyes and saw that I was in an unfamiliar room and slowly everything came back to me. My dad, my mum and Harry. Harry! I sat up with a start, he was kissing my mum and they agreed to get married. What the hell was going on? This wasn't right, I am meant to be with Harry. I looked towards the voices and saw the door between the two rooms was closed. As though they senses I was awake, my mum and Harry walked through the door holding hands. My mum gave me a small smile that was full of regret and tears. I choked back a sob at seeing her, Harry had obviously reversed the spell as I could see it in her eyes that she recognised me. She opened her arms to me and I launched myself at her needing that hug so very much. After a few minutes during which both of us cried and shed a few tears, we separated and sat down at a table on the balcony. I noticed that Harry wasn't around anymore, mum noticed me looking around and answered my unasked question.

"Harry thought it best that we have this conversation without him around."

I nodded, that sounded like the Harry I knew. I was struggling to find where to start, but mum had no such difficulties.

"I can't tell you how happy I am that you are alive and well; when Harry restored my memories and when I remembered everything about you, I wept so much for your safety. I knew everything that has happened to you as harry had already told me everything during the Hunt and after. I know you're upset at daddy and I divorcing but it had been a long time coming. You see, when you are not around we slept in separate bedrooms anyway and only stayed in the same room when you were over for the holidays. It was something that was going to happen and it's best that it happened the way it did in an amicable fashion. I spoke to daddy last night and I'm pleased he got remarried. I remember Lynn from when I was there and I knew she was interested in him. She's a good woman and will be a good wife and lover to him as well as a friend. Please don't be upset with yourself and us, Hermione."

What mum said made sense, I wasn't really upset with myself at what had happened but I was more interested in knowing about her and Harry. I didn't know how to say this though. Mum knows me so well though.

"Ask me what you want about Harry, sweetheart and I will answer you."

"What about the age gap mum and the fact that he'll live longer than ? What about your work and children that you two may have! And.. and... what about me?" I started shouting, but by the end I had a very quiet and small voice.

"Let me try and answer your questions. Harry and I have a 19 year gap, but it is something that doesn't bother him. I was the one that was worried about it at first, but he reassured me quickly that it wasn't an issue. I have to agree with him as well. I love him Hermione. He fits into my life so well, he understands me, he comforts me, he hugs me and he loves me. I don't need anything else. Really, I don't. I don't think he has thought about the living longer thing but I would rather take one year of happiness than knowing I let a chance of real happiness go by. That last reason is the reason why I agreed to go out with him and to marry him. Harry and I don't need to work unless we want to. You may have noticed that harry has filled out somewhat, that is due to two reasons. The first is that the Goblins gave him some sort of regeneration potion so that his body could physically shift to how he would have been had he lived with his parents in proper love and care. The other reason is that he trained under an extreme time turner in India for the equivalent of two years in two weeks to hone his skills magically. Now this is useful because he is sometimes hired as a freelance sort of Dark Lord handyman for various ministries around the world. The fact that he speaks all living languages fluently thanks to another Goblin recipe allows me to be available straightaway and make sure no information is lost in translation. Of course, no-one is meant to know about the language thing, so you must keep that to yourself."

"As I was saying, he earns money, very good money from sorting out problems here and there for various people, so there is no need for wither of us to work at all. Children? I hope to have at least another child and I know Harry wants a family. I want to give that to him. Now for the last question about you; that's kind of hard to answer, but I will tell you this. You hurt him so very badly when you turned him down all those years ago. He loved you completely, I do not know if there is still some love for you within him, but I do know that he will need his friend back at least. You will need to make amends, for example no-one celebrated his 18th birthday with him except for a house-elf and that hurt him deeply. He felt discarded and thrown aside by you and the others. He understood that you may not have wanted to see him in order to not make things awkward, but a card would have been nice for him. I will tell you this though, if he does love you, I will not stand in your way; my daughter's happiness is more important than my own."

What could I say in response to this. My mum was willing to forgo her happiness for mine. That couldn't be allowed, I wasn't going to allow it. A plan started to form in my mind as to what we could do, but for this I needed to get back into Harry's good graces. Mum and I talked some more about what I had been up to since I last saw Harry. I explained about my relationship with Ron and its total failure - something I am not used to, but she helped me come to terms with the fact that it just wasn't meant to be.

"Hermione, you have to understand that there will be some work involved when in a relationship but the work should be to spend more time together, you should be able to sit in silence doing nothing at all. Each other's company is all that should be needed even when doing the most mundane of things, a couple is to enjoy their time together even if washing up and drying the dishes. There will be arguments, but they will be over things that matter, not some petty thing like leaving the toilet seat up or down. Ron always sounded as though he liked to get into arguments with you for the purpose of trying to prove that he could be better than you. He brought out the worse in you to be honest, you were always someone who liked a good debate but never an argument. You wanted to be able to debate a point with others but not shout about some inane action or thing. Think about it. You didn't fail in the relationship, you failed to remain true to yourself. You don't need to become someone different - yes the right person will make you wanbt to be better, but not in your personality but in little traits that you know aren't always polite or good."

* * *

(Harry's POV)

I can't believe I never noticed the similarities between the two of them before. I can't believe it, I have been sleeping with Hermione's mum and she agreed to marry me. What about Hermione now? What are we going to do? Jane was worried though.

_Flashback_

_I saw the light fade away and the movements of Jane's eyes made me realise that her memories were coming back. When she opened her eyes, she looked at me with such fearful eyes that it nearly broke my heart, I scooted over to get closer to her, but she edged away. That did break my heart._

_"Oh! So you regret everything then. That's fine, I ...."_

_"Harry, I don't regret anything. Seriously, I don't but you must have some sort of wish that I could be someone else surely."_

_"NO! Don't you understand Jane, you are the person that has put the light back in my eyes and my life. You know how broken how I was when I met you but you made everything better. You were like the balm that curing my achy-breaky heart."_

_At least I got a giggle out of her using those words from one of her favourite songs._

_"Listen to me Jane, I want to marry you, I want a family with you. Yes, I loved Hermione but all that changed, she is my best friend, well was. What she did to me was horrible and If I could change, well I wouldn't. All this led me to you and please believe me when I say that this is where I want to be and you are the person with whom I wish to be. I love you Jane Farmer, so once again, will you be my wife?"_

_She nodded tearfully and I hugged her and kissed her in all the ways IO knew how in order to make her understand that she was the one person I loved above all else._

_End of Flashback_

It's true though, I can't imagine anyone else being my wife now. Hermione will have to settle with being a friend and nothing else because nothing is going to be coming between us from now on. Four years ago, I thought my life was going to be going down the shits, but the Goblins really came though for me and also meeting all these people in Melbourne helped as well. It all culminates with Jane and what we have. I ought to write to Andi and Teddy to let them know the good news, he'll be so happy - he loves Jane as much as he loves Andi. I must write to Ragnok to thank him for everything.

_Flashback_

_"Let me get this right, as a way of showing that I can trust you, you are giving me this language potion that only Goblins know of, right?" At Ragnok's nod, I continued. "the reason being for this is that other cultures don't trust Goblins and you hope that I could act as a freelance curse breaker for you since wizards will trust me over your brethren." Ragnok nodded again. "My only problem is that I know nothing about curse-breaking, I haven't even finished my Hogwarts education, I mean."_

_"Lord Potter, it's very simple, curse-breaking is much more about reading the signs the right way, with this potions most languages will be easy for you decipher so you can then tell people what everything says. You also possess an instinctive use of magic, it responds to you when you need it and this is very useful to curse-breaking. Throughout your travels, you will likely pick up new magic that will make it even easier for you to do such jobs. Especially if you go to India, since Indian magic is still in Sanskrit and very close to basic magics from centuries ago."_

_Here was the opportunity to be able to freely travel around the world without fear of not understanding what the others are saying and all I have to do is occasionally help out with some curse-breaking. I have nothing to lose really, so I nodded at him that I would do it._

_End of Flashback_

The next month was hell sometimes as I had taken the regeneration potion and that made all my senses go mental; my body would ache, my sight would get sharper then blur again, my hearing would vary as well, but the worse part was the cacophony of noises when my language senses were developing, I seemed to translate everything into other languages and that could be really irritating and distracting. As I stood outside the hotel room, I could just hear the end of the conversation between Jane and Hermione. I knew that everything would not be fine, but it was well on its way, with that in mind I knocked and entered the room.

* * *

(Hermione's POV)

I recognised Harry's knock at the door and looked at him properly for the first time. He had grown, he was tall, he was tanned, he was HOT!! I was going to make my intentions known to Harry by subtle hints. More hugs, more hand-holding and more little touches. He'll never know what will hit him. My plan was just starting so I gave him a large hug and pressed myself close to him so he could feel my assets pressed against him. He stiffened slightly but he did eventually relax into the hug. I knew I had to explain to him what had happened with Dumbledore and the potions, spells etc... I began my explanation for mum and Harry.


End file.
